This week, the archives would like to highlight the work of one of our high school interns, Ja’Lenn Polar. Ja’Lenn attends MetWest High School located in Oakland which strives to prepare young adults to further their personal well-being and the well-being of their communities by merging academics and local internship opportunities. Ja’Lenn began his internship with the archives last year and after becoming acquainted with some of the archives’ materials, started working on his own project that spoke to his experiences. His project culminated with a presentation to his peers in which he distributed a one-page leaflet that he designed containing step by step directions on how to locate and properly address a letter to a friend or loved-one in a California prison. We are very excited about Ja’Lenn’s project as not only did it require a large amount of hard work, but also is extremely relevant to Black and Brown communities decimated by mass imprisonment and immigration sweeps. Check out an interview with Ja’Lenn about his project!
-Nathaniel
